Fishermen to stop Goa from selling fish

In a tit-for-tat strategy, fishermen in coastal districts are bracing up to prevent Goa from supplying fish to Karnataka.

“If Goa continues to ban the distribution and sale of our fish in their markets, we will be forced to stop Goa’s fish-laden trucks from entering Karnataka,” South Kanara and Udupi District Co-operative Fish Marketing Federation Limited president Yashpal Suvarna said on Saturday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a health card distribution programme , organised by federation and H Shankar Family Trust, at the federation building in Mulihitlu.

“The fish from Goa account for 30 per cent share in
Karnataka’s fish market,” Suvarna said.

Malpe Fishermen Association president Satish Khunder told DH that preventing trucks with fish from Goa to enter Karnataka would be a befitting reply to the Goa government’s decision to ban sale of fish from Karnataka.

Weeks ago, the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration in Goa under section 30 (sub section 2) of food safety and standards act, 2006, had prohibited the storage, distribution or sale of fresh fish supplied from outside the state.’ The notification had declared the fish from outside the state which had formalin/formaldehyde as ‘unsafe food’.

“Our fish were banned because of the local fishermen lobby and not because the fish were adulterated with formalin,” Suvarna said.

The plans by fishermen to lead a delegation to Goa did not materialise due to the untimely death of Union Minister Ananth Kumar and chief secretary of Goa was attending a family programme, Suvarna added.

Deputy Director of Fisheries Department Parshwanath told DH that no formalin was detected in the samples of fish caught at Malpe harbour. “Our Chief secretary had written to Goa government’s chief secretary explaining that the sudden ban on fish transported from Karnataka was unwarranted,” he said.

Suvarna, justifying their decision to stop the trucks with fishe from Goa, said, “If our fish have formalin, then their fishes also have formalin and thus are unsafe.”